The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone aligns with DEPA Cross-border Data Flow Rules: Motivations, Gaps, and Improvement Paths

Ma Zhongfa; Zheng Wenlong

doi:doi:10.16538/j.cnki.jsufe.2024.04.010

Summary

The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone taking an active approach to align with DEPA cross-border data flow rules is not only a necessary measure to implement its functions and promote its construction, but also an inevitable choice to align with the international high-standard economic and trade rules, promote the opening up of the high-level system at the national level, and even comply with the development trend of the global digital economy and participate in the governance of the global digital economy at the international level. By comparing the current situation of cross-border data flow governance in China and the relevant contents of DEPA, it can be found that the core innovations in DEPA are mainly focused on the following fields: taking Data Protection Trustmark to improve the compatibility and interoperability of the protection mechanism among parties, exploring data regulation sandboxes and data sharing mechanisms to promote innovation and creation in the digital environment, and encouraging the online licensing mode of government data openness to develop a data exchange compatibility system. Although the corresponding China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone has made certain achievements in exploring the system of hierarchical and classified protection of data, formulating the list of corresponding key industry sectors, and constructing infrastructure for cross-border data flows, there are deficiencies in the construction of data transmission facilitation mechanisms represented by the open data protection capacity certification mechanism, the exploration of data innovation system path represented by data regulation sandboxes, and the concrete implementation path of government data openness. In the future, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone should make more efforts in broadening the scope of mutual trust and reciprocity in data flows, and enriching the construction of Data Protection Trustmark; exploring the governance path of data regulation sandboxes, promoting the backward shift of regulatory center of gravity as well as expanding the content of government data sharing, and piloting the establishment of cooperation mechanisms for the international exchange of government data, so as to perfect the governance system for cross-border data flows and bring the value of data elements to a greater extent, as well as further put forward cross-border data flow governance programs adapted to national conditions at the international level and deeply participate in global data governance.